Europe
: India's largest GSM mobile operator Bharti Tele-Ventures has commissioned
Siemens to equip the company's network with EDGE (Enhanced Data Rates
for GSM Evolution) technology. This will allow Bharti to offer EDGE
services to its customers in Kolkata. This is already Siemens' third
EDGE order in Asia and the twelfth worldwide.

During
the first phase of the project, the mobile communication group at
Siemens (Siemens mobile) will deliver and install by September of
this year all the components required to commercially deploy EDGE
in the network of Bharti's subsidiary Airtel in Kolkata. EDGE permits
data rates of up to 400 kilobit per second and, after GPRS, represents
another "stepping stone" from GSM technology to UMTS.

"This order
is another significant success in the particularly important Indian
mobile communications market. We are pleased to be able to demonstrate
the capability of our EDGE technology to our longstanding partner
Bharti," said Christoph Caselitz, President of Networks at Siemens
mobile.

"EDGE is
the new mantra in the global Internet connectivity scene and will
allow us to offer high speed data services which are approximately
three times those of GPRS. We have already launched our EDGE networks
in India starting with Punjab and will subsequently be rolling out
in 13 other cities in a phased manner. Siemens expertise and global
know-how will therefore be a great asset for us" according to
Mr. Manoj Kohli, President Mobility, Bharti Tele-Ventures.

With 7,67 million
mobile customers (end of June 2004) , Bharti is India's largest GSM
mobile service provider. Siemens and Bharti have shared a close association
starting with their partnership in fixed network business in 1998.

India
is one of the world's fastest growing mobile markets. To date, only
four percent of India's one billion inhabitants use mobile telephony.
India is developing into the second most important market for Siemens
mobile in Asia after China.